Beauty pageant winner dies having liposuction, one of her 'prizes'

Apparently the Ecuadorian beauty queen was pressurised into having the procedure

When 19-year-old Catherine Cando became an Ecuadorian beauty queen, along with the accolade she won a number of prizes including a new car, tablet computer and a course of cosmetic surgery.

The part-time model and medical student is thought to have put off having her free liposuction treatments – given that she clearly didn't need it – but was pressured into going ahead by the surgeon.

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Her brother told local newspaper El Telegrafo "she received a lot of calls from the surgeon trying to persuade her to do it, but she kept saying no. She was thinking about letting someone else have it as a freebie but eventually she agreed to have it just to get him off her back." And what followed was tragedy.

Catherine died on the operating bed and while the exact causes are so far unexplained, medical malpractice has been concluded and the surgeon at the private clinic has now been arrested.

When she was crowned Queen of Duran, the teenager exclaimed: "I want Ecuador to know that the women in my country are not only beautiful, but intelligent." Let's hope this message, coupled with her cautionary tale, helps change the culture of cosmetic procedure pressure there - and reinforces the danger of shoddy surgeons.

Catherine Cando - Beauty pageant winner dies having liposuction, one of her 'prizes'

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